The Japanese violinist, Sayaka Shoji, was born into an artistic family (her mother is a painter, grandmother is a poet) and spent her childhood in Siena, Italy. She studied at Hochschule für Musik Köln under Zakhar Bron and graduated in 2004 and has since made Europe her permanent base. Her other teachers have included Sashko Gawrillow, Uto Ughi, Shlomo Mintz and Riccardo Brengola (for chamber music).. She is the first Japanese and youngest winner at the Paganini Competition in Genoa in 1999.